With a pair of minor upsets in today's semi-finals, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and Saskatchewan Roughriders earned their spots in next Sunday's Grey Cup championship game. This is only the third time that the Grey Cup game is being held in Saskatchewan, and the first time ever that the Riders will be playing for the Grey Cup in their home city.
You have to understand how much people here love the Roughriders. Everyone loves their home team, but the Riders are third in merchandise sales in Canada behind only the NHL's Toronto Maple Leafs and Montréal Canadiens, and Rider merchandise outsells the entire rest of the CFL combined. If you want something stupid and green, it's out there.
I assumed the Riders would get blown out by Calgary today (if anyone can break your heart in dramatic and hilarious-in-hindsight fashion, it's them), but they won in decisive fashion. There were already parties and concerts and a parade and all kinds of crazy crap going on, but with the Riders actually in the game, the excitement and hype is going to be through the roof. This week at work is going to be like the week before Christmas - a bunch of people won't be there and the ones who are won't want to do anything.
Plus, I can wear jeans and a jersey every day and nobody will even care. To be fair, that counts as business attire here.
Anyone care about this apart from me and hansen9j?
Anyone care about this apart from me and hansen9j?
I do. For approximately the same reason CRZ spells Honor as "Honour", I am a member in good standing of RiderNation. I wore my Jersey (with my Bears hat) through the airport yesterday, and then found a sports bar and PLEADED with them to put on the NBC sports network. Me and two other people (both from the Tononto area) were into it. Everyone else was going "hey, where are the [pick your late afternoon NFL game of choice].
Wish I could be in Regina this week, but I will be watching. I have a feeling that Mosaic might just about not be able to handle the excitement of a Rider victory!
We'll be back right after order has been restored here in the Omni Center.
That the universe was formed by a fortuitous concourse of atoms, I will no more believe than that the accidental jumbling of the alphabet would fall into a most ingenious treatise of philosophy - Swift
This is completely insane, especially given that it's Hamilton playing us. A little background:
Andy Fantuz: Beloved former Rider, he signed with Hamilton before 2012 as that's his hometown, but nobody begrudges him for it; part of that is because he could have done it three years ago and still re-signed with us. I have a Fantuz jersey, and can wear it with pride; there will be plenty of Fantuz jerseys at the game.
Kent Austin: Starting quarterback and Grey Cup MVP in 1989 when we beat, of all teams, Hamilton. Head coach of the Riders in 2007 when we won the Grey Cup. Immediately after winning the Cup, he left to become the offensive co-ordinator at Ole Miss under Houston Nutt (it, uh, did not go well). Went on to head coach at Cornell University. This is his first year back in the CFL, where he is now the head coach and GM of Hamilton. So if you're keeping score, Austin was *heavily* involved in the last two Grey Cup victories. Still very much beloved; a giant poster of him is up on the wall of the stadium, and he has a stadium parking lot named after him.
Henry Burris: El Diablo. Enemy number #1 for a Riders' perspective. Former Rider that left for Calgary in a cloud of anger and bitterness, then joined Hamilton in 2012 when Calgary decided to go younger at QB. Openly enjoys playing the villian. Also, spent time in the NFL with both Green Bay and Chicago; started one game, where he became the first starting QB to lose to Tampa in cold-weather. Will prompt 50 different chants of "HEN-ry. HEN-ry. HEN-ry."
And yes, I have tickets.
I am why James is crying.
Go Pack Go! Owner of one (1) share. (5-5, 3rd NFC North.) Let's Go Riders! Owner of one (1) share. (11-7, 2nd West Division, Grey Cup Finalist!)
I've always enjoyed watching CFL games but unfortunately, as soon as they were removed from CBUT, they tend to be hard to catch. I think that Grey Cup will be on NBCSN or something. I will have to check.
Chuck Norris drives an ice cream truck covered in human skulls.
The Grey Cup is on NBC Sports Network Sunday at 6PM Eastern time (4 RiderNation time). The bulk of the game are on ESPN3 during the season. There was one a week (as a rule) in NBCSN, There were a few games this season on ESPN2, but I never caught one of those. I assume they all used the TSN announcers. Cuthbert and Petterson.
We'll be back right after order has been restored here in the Omni Center.
That the universe was formed by a fortuitous concourse of atoms, I will no more believe than that the accidental jumbling of the alphabet would fall into a most ingenious treatise of philosophy - Swift
As a supporter of the Argos and Stamps*, I was pretty much disappointed with Sunday's results. On top of that, I attended the game in Calgary on Saturday in -21 weather when the U of C Dinos beat my alma mater UWO Mustangs rather handily. Terrible weekend.
At least this coming weekend has opened up for me nicely.
The amount of people wearing Rider green that you see out and about has been increasing on a daily basis. Today is our official day to wear green at work, though that hasn't stopped some people from doing it all week long. As I write this, we're about 20 minutes from heading out into the mall connected to my office building and taking group pictures with the big inflatable Grey Cup. That's just my immediate work group. Our whole department is getting together for group photos in an hour. Indeed, here at work, there is no flat surface save for my own ass that isn't plastered with printed-out Roughrider pictures or draped in green flags.
Actually, I am wearing a jersey today, so never mind that.
The festivities kicked off at noon yesterday in a big tent downtown. I braved -20C (before the windchill) to check out the opening ceremonies, and the place was packed. You can see my crappy pictures if you follow @j_kalyn on Instagram. You will also see a picture of me and a friend who was recently featured on the evening news for being a Rider superfan. She was interviewed about how to pack for the big game. This is a real thing that happened. Canadian news and American news are very different things.
It seems like today will be the day when things really start going nuts. The morning bus to work was decidedly emptier than usual (and it showed up earlier, which almost was problematic). People have started their Grey Cup weekend early, it seems. If you can believe it, I got coffee at Tim Hortons this morning and THERE WASN'T EVEN A LINE. Someday I'll tell my grandkids about that.
Originally posted by KJames199 If you can believe it, I got coffee at Tim Hortons this morning and THERE WASN'T EVEN A LINE. Someday I'll tell my grandkids about that.
The one there off Broad at 11th? I am shocked indeed. I assume the mall you are talking about is the Cromwell. It was fairly Rider crazy when I was up there in early October. That poor little Rider store out in the Grasslands mall must be about overrun. I am wearing my Jersey through the airports tomorrow, so we'll see if I get any reaction down here in the States. Shockinly, there didn't have any Ridergear at the Champs I just visited at the mall here in Baltimore (all the stranger since there once was a CFL team here.
We'll be back right after order has been restored here in the Omni Center.
That the universe was formed by a fortuitous concourse of atoms, I will no more believe than that the accidental jumbling of the alphabet would fall into a most ingenious treatise of philosophy - Swift
I'm not a Rider fan by any means. But it's just too perfect that the most passionate fan base is hosting the Grey Cup with their team as the favourite. Plus I got a kick out of reading about a Rider-themed sex shop.
I was LOVING some CFL when many of the games were on NBCSN (hey, there's the Buck Pierce commercial...HE's playing in this game even though he was traded to the other team.) I can name WAY too many CFL QBs and I will be flipping back and forth. You can tell it's a big deal because the NFL counter-programmed with Pats/Broncos during the second half.
Holy fuck shit motherfucker shit. Read comics. Fuck shit shit fuck shit I sold out when I did my job. Fuck fuck fuck shit fuck. Sorry had to do it....
*snip*
Revenge of the Sith = one thumb up from me. Fuck shit. I want to tittie fuck your ass. -- The Guinness. to Cerebus
Pretty much a destruction of the TiCats by the Riders - Burris played weakly after the first series until the 4th quarter. Sheets and Durant played as well as you could hope and the sea of Green might have had some influence on Burris.
Kind of a fun game and if you had never watched the Canadian game, it was a lot of fun to see.
We'll be back right after order has been restored here in the Omni Center.
That the universe was formed by a fortuitous concourse of atoms, I will no more believe than that the accidental jumbling of the alphabet would fall into a most ingenious treatise of philosophy - Swift
Originally posted by AWArulzPretty much a destruction of the TiCats by the Riders - Burris played weakly after the first series until the 4th quarter. Sheets and Durant played as well as you could hope and the sea of Green might have had some influence on Burris.
Kind of a fun game and if you had never watched the Canadian game, it was a lot of fun to see.
YES YES YES
Riders win! Hamilton scored first with a field goal, but the Riders got the first touchdown and never lost the lead, winning 45-23. There are fireworks going on outside my house. I'll leave it to hansen9j to report live from the scene where the real action is.
Monday update: work is verrrrrry quiet. A great number of people aren't here. Most of them had the foresight to book today of in advance. Some of them are sick, possibly in quotation marks. The empty bus this morning suggested that this issue may be widespread.
I am enjoying the silence. I wish we won a Grey Cup every weekend.
I wore my jersey today and was surprised to see that nobody else in my department was wearing their green. (They don't have sparkly green fingernails either - their loss.) However, walking around the mall (yes, AWA, the Cornwall), you see lots of people decked out in Rider colours. They may not have gone home following last night's celebration.
There's a parade tomorrow. I'll go if other work people go. Somehow it's acceptable to ditch if we ALL ditch.
Originally posted by The GoonI got a kick out of reading about a Rider-themed sex shop.
I know that place! You can tell what special event is in town by what the mannequins in the windows are wearing. This week it was football helmets (and lingerie). During the Junos (Canadian music awards), they were all holding instruments (and were wearing lingerie).
Originally posted by AWArulzThe (Tim Hortons) there off Broad at 11th?
That Tims is across the street from the above-mentioned sex shop - but no, not that one. There's a Tims in the Cornwall Centre. It's kind of hidden in the walkway to the Royal Bank building. You'd have found it if you were Canadian - we can sniff out Tim Hortons like pigs finding truffles.
Sooooooooooo good. I was sitting up in the end zone pretty much right behind the goal posts, and that was the end zone where most of the fun happened (whether it be Rider touchdowns or snaps going flying past Burris). There was a stretch where you could feel the creeping panic (when the lead got reduced to 15 points in the fourth quarter), as we are a fragile fan base that has been burned before. It was a particularly strange sensation (before the Riders pulled away) to be clock watching, silently begging for the clock to run faster and faster.
Tom Hanks and Martin Short are apparently good friends, and Short is from Hamilton. Hanks mugged for the stadium camera at one point, trading his Ti-Cats togue for a Rider toque, at which point Short pretending to attack Hanks.
I am why James is crying.
Go Pack Go! Owner of one (1) share. (5-5-1, 3rd NFC North.) Let's Go Riders! Owner of one (1) share. (11-7, Champs!)
Originally posted by KJames199There's a Tims in the Cornwall Centre. It's kind of hidden in the walkway to the Royal Bank building. You'd have found it if you were Canadian - we can sniff out Tim Hortons like pigs finding truffles.
I saw that on the second floor. By that cool electronics shop.
I need another week in Regina - preferably not until football season starts though. It's chilly there now. (just looked it up: -17C. [that's like 1 F for you 'mericans.]
We'll be back right after order has been restored here in the Omni Center.
That the universe was formed by a fortuitous concourse of atoms, I will no more believe than that the accidental jumbling of the alphabet would fall into a most ingenious treatise of philosophy - Swift
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